Squash ace Noor Zaman clawed his way back to a thrilling 3-2 victory over his French competitor to advance to the next round and round out Pakistan’s performance at the Rich Venus Karachi Open on Tuesday.
Zaman took the first game 11-9, every point greeted by applause from the home crowd packed in the corridor between the courts at the Creek Club in the port city.
France’s Melvil Scianimanico got his revenge in the second set with a 12-10 win. He then gave an 11-3 thrashing to Zaman, who looked visibly tired in the third set as the crowd of adolescent squash players and global icons like Jahangir Khan watched on, mumbling their own predictions in between shouting praise for the home favourite.
Zaman is no stranger to comebacks, having been crowned the U23 world champion at the same venue in April. He won the fourth set 11-6 and proceeded to demolish the Frenchman 11-6 to win the fifth set and game to cheers from the crowd.
Eleventh seed Zaman will play Egypt’s Fares Dessouky on Wednesday in the Round of 16. Dessouky is seeded eighth in the tournament and has a world ranking of 15.
“Melvil is a great player and, so is Dessouky; it’ll be a fight to beat him tomorrow the same way I won the match today,” Zaman told Dawn after the match.
“There’s a lot you learn from top-tier championships like this with all the best players in the world,” Zaman said of the PSA Gold level, the first of 2026.
“It feels great to have an event like this in Pakistan after years.”
The biggest upset of the day came from Pakistan’s wildcard entrant Nasir Iqbal, currently ranked number 134 in the world.
The veteran international player was two down before he staged a comeback against world number 45 Moustafa El Sirty of Egypt.
After El Sirty took the first two sets 11-5, 11-8, Iqbal flipped the script and demolished the Egyptian 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 in the next three sets to claim Pakistan’s first win of the day.
Over at the state-of-the-art glass court, Ashab Irfan took an easy 3-0 win over Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue with scores of 11-4, 11-6,11-9.
In Wednesday’s Round of 16, Irfan will play top seed Karim Gawad of Egypt.
“He’s literally my squash idol, and to play against him tomorrow, that too at a Gold level PSA event, feels surreal,” a beaming Irfan told Dawn.
Irfan reached a career-high world ranking of 47 late last year after a series of international wins. He recently committed to Trinity College in the US, where he’ll begin this year.
Zaman also climbed to his lifetime best ranking of 37 last year with championship wins in Canada and the US.
“I want to break through to the top 15 world rankings this year,” Zaman said.
Pakistan’s other three players — all wildcard entrants — lost their games and were eliminated from the tournament.
Sana Bahadar opened Pakistan’s campaign at the championship in the glass court against Egypt’s Mariam Metwally, who demolished her 11-4, 11-1, 11-6.
Bahadar is the first and only player in Pakistan and across Asia who is fully deaf and can’t speak. She relies on her father, who travels with her for every competition, to translate everything for her and often sign the score to her when it’s not being displayed on a screen.
“I was emotional when I found out Sana is deaf. I’ve never competed against a deaf player before, and it makes me realise how much we take for granted when you see her overcome the obstacles she has to reach this level,” world number 35 Metwally told Dawn after the match.
Mariam Malik faced a similar 3-0 loss against Hong Kong’s Sin Yuk Chan at the same court later in the day.
“It’s definitely a big margin to lose by but it’s also a matter of trust to be playing at a gold level event like this,” Malik told Dawn.
“I can’t remember the last time a Pakistani woman player competed at a competition of this calibre, which helps build up local players like myself and my teammates.”
Tayyab Aslam, also a wildcard entrant, was defeated 3-0 by Spain’s Iker Pajares in 11-6, 11-2, 11-7.
